Vodafone & sustainability

Sustainability summary

Vodafone has achieved the E-label, because only a little information is published about a policy on sustainability. It is hard to see the effort Vodafone is making on sustainability. Therefore, more policy and transparency is needed.

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Questions about Climate Change/ Carbon Emissions

1 out of 10

1. Does the brand (owner) have a policy to reduce climate emissions generated from both its own operations and from beyond its own operations?

Vodafone implements several measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions both from its own operations and from beyond its own operations, such as by using free air-cooling technology, monitoring suppliers and installing smart meters (see link, pages 21, 27-30).

2. Has the brand (owner) disclosed the annual absolute climate footprint of its 'own operations', and has it accomplished an overall absolute climate footprint reduction compared to the result of the previous reporting year?

Vodafone has published the climate footprint of own operations in 2016 and 2017. However, Vodafone reports no reduction in its absolute climate footprint, which remained constant at 2.59 million tonnes of CO2e.

9. Has the brand (owner) disclosed its annual absolute climate footprint that is 'beyond own operations', and has it accomplished an overall absolute climate footprint reduction compared to the result of the previous reporting year?

Vodafone reports on its Scope 3 emissions, but it is not clear how much exactly its total Scope 3 emissions are, and how this compares to the previous reporting year (see link, pages 27-29, 97-99).

Questions about Labour Conditions/ Fair Trade

1 out of 3

1. Does the brand (owner) have a supplier Code of Conduct (CoC) which includes all the basic standards to ensure workers' rights such as no child labour, no bonded labour, a safe workplace and no excessive overwork? And is there at least a progress report once every two years on implementation of this Code of Conduct?

Vodafone has a supplier Code of Conduct that covers all the basic standards to ensure workers' rights (see link, pages 2-5). Vodafone's annual report from 2017 provides a summary about social compliance in the supply chain (see previous link, pages 25-29) .

2. Does the brand (company) have a clear policy to only source from smelters that have passed the conflict-free audits, and has the brand already achieved this for at least one metal/mineral?

Vodafone determined that in 2016 the tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold in 57% of its in-scope products are sourced from smelters
that are either certified as CFSP-compliant or
are on the list of CFSP-active smelters. Thus, it is unclear if at least one of this minerals is sourced fully conflict-free (see link, page 4).